


Paladin Vlog

by klancevld



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gay Keith, Keith's Paladin Vlog, Keith's Vlog, Kissing, Lance and Keith - Freeform, M/M, Voltron, keith and lance, keith kogane - Freeform, klance, klance fluff, klangst, lance mcclain - Freeform, vld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 10:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12231126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klancevld/pseuds/klancevld
Summary: Keith pulls away instantaneously, flustered beyond description. His whole face was presumably a shade similar to his paladin suit as he flashed his eyes to Coran who didn’t seem to notice. Still Keith sat with rapid pulse in his ears, forehead tingling and mouth sputtering to form words. Was that supposed to calm Keith down?However, before he could think further of what it meant, Coran turns around and motions to Keith that he was ready. Keith inhales sharply, but manages to draw out exhale to calm his heartbeat. He just needed to get through three minutes of footage. That’s it. Then he could think about what just happened all he wanted. Lance releases his grip on Keith and comes around to stand next to the camera, giving Keith a good-natured thumbs up as if nothing had happened. Keith looks away, assuming a state of nonchalance. If there was one thing he was good at, it was pretend not to care.Coran presses the record button.





	Paladin Vlog

**Author's Note:**

> What really happened before and after Keith's paladin vlog. Lance is comforting. Keith is emotional. Much cute. Such fluff.
> 
> I wrote this after Keith's vlog was released and before Lance's, taking place after the conclusion of Season 3 of Voltron and before Season 4 has been released. 
> 
> There is nothing beyond kissing in this fic and it's not very graphic. No trigger warnings apply, there's just talk of Keith's insecurities and abandonment/trust issues. 
> 
> If you would like to follow my social media where I post about klance 24/7 please do so! My twitter is @keithkog and my tumblr is @teladuv :) 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! If you do share with your friends and all that jazz. I will be writing more separate fics soon so be on the look out.

“I hate opening up!” Keith grumbles, crossing his arms in his typical defensive position. He and Lance were sitting in the lounge, waiting for Coran to call them and tell them he was ready to film. Keith was in here alone panicking about the vlog, until Lance showed up to calm him down.

  
“Yeah, and water is wet.” Lance jokes, pulling his leg up to sit cross-legged next to Keith. Keith doesn’t laugh. “Hey, it’ll be fine. All you have to do is talk about yourself.”

  
“I hate doing that too. There’s really not much to Keith Kogane.”

  
“Bullshit!” Lance counters.

  
“How would you know? You barely know anything about me.”

  
Lance frowns. “So what? I still know that there’s more to you than a mullet and an attitude.”

  
“Not much!”

  
“Oh, come on!” Lance pines, hitting Keith playfully on the arm. Even the simple touch makes Keith stiffen. “What do you do for fun? What’s your favorite color? What’s your least favorite color? What about earth do you miss the most? What’s your mom like?”

  
The last question stops Keith, head pivoting to look at Lance. He searches his face for any humor, any cruel form of teasing, any cheeky raise of an eyebrow. But there was nothing but pure, innocent curiosity. He really didn’t know, did he? Had he never brought it up? Had he just never thought to mention his abandonment?

  
“My Mom left me when I was four.” It came out of Keith’s mouth before he could even think about it. Why did he feel it was so necessary for Lance to know?  
Lance’s face falters into a frown, a genuine one of disbelief and concern. He opens his mouth to speak, eyes darting to the floor. “Y-y...I didn’t know, man. I’m sorry.”

  
It’s now Keith who looks away, immediately regretting that he ever let Lance talk to him. If there was one thing he hated more than opening up, it was pity from others. He had made himself vulnerable, and now Lance was feeling bad for him. Great.

  
Keith breaks the ringing silence. “Can you just tell Coran I don’t want to do the vlog?”

  
In a swift and surprising motion, Lance places his hand on Keith’s arm, resting gently against his bicep. Electricity seems to burst through Keith’s veins, every nerve in his body suddenly focused on Lance’s hand on him. Even so, he wanted to shake off Lance’s sympathy. He didn’t need it.

  
“You can do this, Keith.” Lance’s words are soft and earnest. Keith’s blinks, expecting him to say something in solace rather than something reassuring. He’s almost too surprised to notice the heat that has rushed to his cheeks.

  
“What if I start crying?” Keith blurts, thinking of the worst possible scenario. He hates crying, especially in front of other people. “What if I start opening up and I can’t stop and I start telling my entire life story and everything that I hate about myself?”

  
“Keith.” Lance’s grip on Keith’s arm tightens reassuringly. “No one’s judging you. We all know how hard this is for you. Heck, it’s hard for everyone. No one’s asking you to be perfect; else Allura would write some dumb script. Just say what you want, leave off what you don’t. I know that’s easier said than done. But I also know what you’re capable of. _And you can do this._ ”

  
Keith can’t help but smile, something that has never been natural to him around anyone but Lance. He notices that Lance’s thumb of the hand on him has begun lightly stroking his arm in circular motions. Keith’s heartbeat is abnormally quick, a sensation of warmth seeping through his body that radiates off of Lance’s touch. He dismisses the frightening urge to lunge forward and press his lips to Lance’s, the thought catching him off guard. Instead he decides to settle for an indifferent response or a cough to cover up his irrational impulses.

But before he can do anything, Coran’s voice chimes over the loudspeaker in the room.  
“Ready for you, Keith!”

  
The warmth that once radiated through Keith is gone in half a tick, replaced with cold blood. He freezes as if it turned to ice, chest constricting.

  
Lance pulls him to his feet, and before Keith could shout in objection, he’s pushing him out the door.

  
“Take deep breaths, buddy. You’ll be fine.” Lance soothes, hands softly resting on Keith’s shoulders. Keith follows orders, begrudgingly closing his eyes to inhale the lingering scent of Lance that results from his close proximity. It reminds him of rain on a hot beach. It actually makes him feel better.

  
When they reach the control room, Coran is still fiddling with the camera, motioning for Keith to sit down without looking at him. Keith closes his eyes and mouths “I’m not gonna cry, I’m not gonna cry, I’m not gonna cry...” The hands that never left Keith’s shoulders tighten, almost as if Lance is trying to massage out the tension. Keith looks up at him. Lance is smiling slightly, not out of pity but something else. Compassion? Care? Trust? It was above him, but it felt nice to be looked at like that, even though he was a bit mad at him for forcing him in here. Still he returns the gaze, and as if it was a natural gesture between them, Lance bends down and places his lips on Keith’s forehead.

  
Keith pulls away instantaneously, flustered beyond description. His whole face was presumably a shade similar to his paladin suit as he flashed his eyes to Coran who didn’t seem to notice. Still Keith sat with rapid pulse in his ears, forehead tingling and mouth sputtering to form words. Was that supposed to calm Keith down?!

  
However, before he could think further of what it meant, Coran turns around and motions to Keith that he was ready. Keith inhales sharply, but manages to draw out exhale to calm his heartbeat. He just needed to get through three minutes of footage. That’s it. Then he could think about what just happened all he wanted. Lance releases his grip on Keith and comes around to stand next to the camera, giving Keith a good-natured thumbs up as if nothing had happened. Keith looks away, assuming a state of nonchalance. If there was one thing he was good at, it was pretend not to care.  
Coran presses the record button.

  
“I’m Keith, the pilot of the black lion.” He began with an inflection that almost indicated a question. Words already began to fail him. He looks at Lance, who was already rolling his eyes at the monotone. Keith forgets his embarrassment, annoyed with him for expecting more.

  
“What should I say? I’m a paladin. I fly the black lion.” He grapples. “I said that already -- see that’s why I’m bad at this! What else am I supposed to tell you?” He racked his brain for anything, a smidge of his identity. “Okay, I guess I’m part Galra.”

  
His mind flashes to memories of Hunk pestering about his Galra identity, still confused why it was that riveting to him.

  
“I guess being part Galra’s a big deal.” He says aloud, toying with his blade that he found himself holding. It was an impulse thing, something that Keith fingered when he was anxious without even realizing it. “Might explain why I was never really good at connecting with people.” The words flowed out of him without thought as his gaze shifts to Lance. He wanted to be closer with him, he wanted to be honest. He wanted to tell him how his insides churn every time he looks at him. He wanted to tell him how his heart skips a beat every time he touches him. But most of all, he wanted to connect with Lance.

  
He thinks about all the times where he had never picked up on social cues with him. Like when Lance wanted them to do a Voltron chant, and Keith just couldn’t get it right.

  
_“I say ‘Vol’, you say ‘tron’! Vol--”_  
_“...Voltron?”_

  
“I still don’t understand why I wouldn’t just say Voltron!” He now says to the camera. “It’s so much faster. One person says it, right? Done. I say ‘Voltron’ and then the chant is over! It doesn’t have to be complicated!”

  
He realizes he’s losing his cool, falling back into his seat. “I am so sorry. I am so sorry I guess I have a bit of a temper, so.”

  
His mind flashes to all his angry releases on his friends, on the people he thought of as his family. He didn’t mean to lash out, but it always seemed easier than being nice. It got things done quicker, it pulled feeling out of important missions, it was just easier. He thought of Lance in particular, every time he took something out on him because he didn’t know how to come to terms with his own feelings for him. All Keith had ever known was building up a protective layer of loner-ness around himself so he wouldn’t get hurt. If he opened himself up, if he became vulnerable, if he let himself trust, they would end up hurting him. It was easier to yell at Lance and force a rivalry between them rather than admitting to himself about how much he cared for him. That’s why it hurt so much when they bonded, when he finally felt as though he was getting closer to someone, and Lance didn’t even remember. He went right back to flirting with Allura, barely giving Keith a second look. He pretended like it didn’t affect him. He pretended like it didn’t feel like a sword to the chest like it did. But he realized he wanted nothing more than to be close with someone. He just didn’t know how.

  
“I don’t know why I’m that way.” He whispers, looking down. “Maybe I’m naturally untrusting because my mom left me? And so instead of accepting people into my life, I push them away before they reject me.” He leans back, closing his eyes and feeling his thumb in between the cracks of his fist. “I guess I have some walls up.”

  
Deep emotion courses through him at this simple state of the obvious, suddenly feeling tears begin to swell. He hated himself for being like this. He hated the walls that he built up. He hated being The Loner. He places his hand over his face, shielding his eyes from the camera. He drags his hand down his face in shame, banging his fists on the table next.

  
“I-I’m out of here. Get me out of here!” He pushes himself up from the seat. “I said I wouldn’t cry!”

  
Coran turns off the camera hastily, stammering at Keith’s actual revelation of emotion. Lance looks less baffled, but still stands with slight awe of Keith as he walks out of the room. Lance runs to intercept him in the hallway.

  
“Hey, Keith,” he starts, reaching out to grab Keith’s shoulders. Keith shoves him off as usual, only reinforcing his introspective realization.  
But Lance is persistent, maneuvering so he stood in front of Keith. He opens his arms for Keith to walk into. At first, Keith rejects the arms snaking around his middle. But after a second, he softens, letting himself be held. It was a strange feeling, one he wasn’t very familiar with. Especially in a comforting way. It was typical for Keith to bottle up his feelings until he was alone when no one would even have the chance to assuage him. But as he stood with Lance encasing his body, head under his chin, nose sniffling into the skin of Lance’s neck, tears running down his cheeks, he realized it felt nice. Keith impetuously wraps his arms around Lance, pulling him tighter into him. He wasn’t sure whether it was out of shame or affection, but Lance didn’t seem to mind as Keith felt his arms squeeze tighter.

  
They sat there like that for what seemed like a varga in silence except for some muffled sobs that Keith choked out. He would feel more flustered at the thought of being so close to Lance if he wasn’t so ashamed of his sadness. Crying was for babies, that was always what he told himself. And Keith was not a baby. Keith was a warrior. Keith was a badass. Keith took shit from no one. Yet he stood here like a child, enveloped in the warmth and safety of Lance’s limbs as he whimpered like a lost puppy. He took in a staggered breath and forced himself to let himself enjoy it. He was enjoying it. He was enjoying being touched by Lance, and as he breathing slowed, he realized that he had longed for this for awhile. He just wanted to be held, he missed it. Of course, Shiro hugged him from now and again, but that was different. It was a pleasant feeling to be held by Lance. He felt secure.

  
Even so, it was still Keith that broke away first from Lance, wiping his damp face with the back of his hand. Something felt like it needed to be said. “Lance...I--”  
But Lance didn’t let him finish. He cut Keith off with a kiss, this time on Keith’s lips instead of his forehead. Keith’s eyes widen, billions of thoughts racing through his mind. He was kissing Lance. Like really kissing him. It wasn’t a dream. It was happening. He couldn’t move or think, or even kiss back. His body felt like it was on fire.

  
Lance pulls back, cheeks slightly red. He looks to the left, reaching his arm up to scratch the back of his neck. “I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have done that I ju--”  
It was Keith who cut Lance off with his lips this time. He hadn’t thought about it, he hadn’t need to. It just had to be done. Lance’s hands reach up to frame the smooth curves of Keith’s face, but not before stiffening like Keith had done before. They were clearly both shocked that this was happening. That the other wanted this to happen. Lance’s fingers dust at the tears still plastered on Keith’s face, brushing them off. Keith laces his arms around Lance’s back as their teeth click, mouths opening into each other. It was quick and fluid, as if they had kissed a thousand times before. It felt right. Keith resists the urge to moan as Lance reaches his hands up to tangle in Keith’s hair. It felt really right.

  
But before things could escalate further, Coran came barrelling into the hallway. They detached at once, just in time before Coran could see them.

  
“Are you alright Keith?” He asks, searching Keith’s face.

  
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He responds, a little too cheerily.

  
Coran might be suspicious, but if he was he didn’t say anything, only narrowing his eyes at the two disheveled boys before nodding and walking off.  
Keith and Lance stand in silence as Coran turns the corner. When he’s out of sight, they erupt in a simultaneous fit of laughter. It’s awkward, but at the same time, it’s not.

Keith and Lance are friends. They’ve always been.

It was okay to laugh together, it was okay to be close; and so what if they kissed?

It was just a kiss.

They were both lonely, they were both hormonal teens, and it had been awhile since either of them had had any human contact.

It was just a kiss.  
Yet when their eyes met, and they studied each other’s expressions, it was clear.

It was more. It was a lot more. It had always been more.


End file.
